Keonjhar: In a first in Odisha, the Keonjhar district administration is opening an exclusive Millet Shakti Café tomorrow.
This has been informed by Keonjhar Collector Ashish Thakare through his Twitter handle.
#Odisha‘s 1st Exclusive Millet Shakti Café will be inaugurated on 29th October 2021 in #Keonjhar. A Convergence of @mission_shakti & @MilletsOdisha,the Café supported by #DMFKeonjhar shall have millets-based hot cooked items, packaged millet grains, millet drinks. @CMO_Odisha pic.twitter.com/FTvG6GNP4h
— District Administration,Keonjhar (@DistAdmKeonjhar) October 27, 2021
The Millet Shakti Café (Quick Service Restaurant) is a joint venture between the Odisha Millets Mission and Mission Shakti Department. It will be run by the women self-help groups (WSHGs) of Mission Shakti.
The initiative will go a long way in promoting millet consumption in the State and provide livelihood opportunities to the women, said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
More than 10 millets-based hot cooked items, over 10 dry and bakery items, millet drinks, packaged millet grains and ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products will be sold at the outlet.
Complementary items like coffee, tea, chocolates will be served to make it an attractive spot for the young audience. Packaged millet grains, ready to eat and ready to cook products supplied by processing units or FPOs supported by Odisha Millets Mission will also be available at the Quick Service Restaurant, according to the Keonjhar district administration.
Millets are an integral part of tribal life and a staple diet of tribals of Odisha since time immemorial. Millets are grown mostly in rain deficit areas by the small and marginal farmers. On the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the State Government has stepped up its efforts to revive this forgotten and neglected crop under Odisha Millets Mission.
The Odisha Millets Mission has played an instrumental role in easing constraints of millet growers by incentivizing investments into soil health, quality seed, improved agronomic practices, drudgery reduction, mechanization and providing price guarantee through procurement by state agencies and exploration of remunerative markets.
With the support of the enterprising spirit of Mission Shakti self-help groups, the millet grains and products are now available at affordable rates to the common man.
Through successful interventions on multiple fronts, the programme won accolades from the Government of India which recommended other states to follow the Odisha model.